On the weekend of May 16 and 17, 2009, the Capitol Hill Chorale joined the Capital City Symphony for a program billed simply as “Beethoven!” — the two ensembles’ first collaboration. They performed Mozart’s Misericordias Domini, K. 222, alongside Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, the “Choral” Symphony. The Saturday concert was held at Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church, 4th and Independence Avenue, SE, and the Sunday concert at the Atlas Performing Arts Center on H Street, NE.
Program notes by William Grigg framed Beethoven’s Ninth — completed in 1824 while the composer was already deaf — as a work that had grown beyond Schiller’s original ode to joy and brotherhood, citing Leonard Bernstein’s 1989 Berlin performance, where “Freude” (joy) was sung as “Freiheit” (freedom) to mark the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Mozart offertory that opened the evening, written in 1775, was chosen in part for a musical phrase the notes suggested Beethoven may later have echoed in the Ninth.
Program
- Misericordias Domini, K. 222 — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 “Choral” — Ludwig van Beethoven
Frederick Binkholder, the Chorale’s Artistic Director, conducted the Mozart, and Victoria Gau, the Symphony’s Artistic Director, conducted the Beethoven, with soloists Kotnim Chung (soprano), Elaine Dalbo (alto), Rolando Sanz (tenor), and Robert Burner (baritone). Jinsun Cho served as the Chorale’s assistant director and accompanist.
